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October Entry: Autumn Moon Bathhouse

As promised in the October Challenge Announcement thread, I intend to participate in this month's challenge.

The Haiku of Horror is an intended series of detailed encounter locations ready to drop into any Kaidan, or other Asian fantasy campaign or module. It would serve as mapped location with ready-made detailed NPCs, monsters, hazards, haunts, traps, magic items and history easily used as plot hooks and adventure seeds. This is not intended to serve as an adventure, rather a single detailed encounter, however an entire adventure could easily be built around the concept. I am calling the series the Haiku of Horror, as I intend to precede the content with an illuminating poem describing details of the presented encounter, using standard 5-7-5 syllable haiku format.

As volcanic islands, Kaidan is dotted by thousands of natural, mineral rich hot springs. These hot springs have attracted bathers across the centuries. Perhaps as a consequence, few activities are so integral to Kaidanese culture as bathing. More than hygiene, taking a bath is a ritual to end the day, a form of personal therapy and entertainment. In the case of a sento or public bathhouse, it serves as a center for communications and social interaction, almost as a public forum.

The Autumn Moon Sento is a 4 storied, segregated structure designed to serve both Commoner caste and Buke (samurai) caste clientel. It contains extensive, enclosed gardens with attached outbuildings.

A tragic tale of pride, jealousy, and a lover's tryst gone bad leading to a ghostly haunting forms the heart of this encounter, as well as the Japanese horror trope of long, black wet hair...